Company G: Epilog

Company G: Epilog

Of the Original 88 men from Snyder County who left in the fall of 1862, 14 never returned to the life they left behind. Four others received wounds severe enough to alter the quality of their lives, or returned with health so broken as to shorten their lives. But all who returned wore determined to get on with their lives.

The two most notable trends in the civilian lives of the Co. G veterans wore that every one of them married (of those not already married), and a number of them moved away from Snyder County, even though their families had been in the same area for two or more generations. Just how much impact the experiences of war may have had to do with it Is difficult to say, but within twenty years of muster out, the boys of Co. G could be found in the following places:

            Wiliamsport      East Lake, Florida

            Hazieton           Carey, Ohio

            Philadelphia      Mt Vernon, Washington

            Muncy Alma, Kansas

            Gowen City      Claypool, Indiana

            Danville            Harlan, Iowa

            Milton              Akron, Ohio

            Easton              Paris, Michigan

            Mazeppa          Lincoln, Nebraska

            Pine Hall           Elkhart, Indiana

            Ligonler            Juniata, Nebraska

            Elizabethvllle     Three Rivers, Michigan

            Sunbury            Oberlin, Kansas

            Russell, Kansas                        The Dakota Territory

It would appear they saw nothing, on their march through the sunny South that appealed to them since none of them relocated to any state through which they had marched. Or did they know they wouldn’t be welcome in those unreconstructed Southern hearts just yet?

The war experience did have an obvious influence in one interesting area -children born to these men after the war wore named after former commanders or President Lincoln. Nelson Byers had no sons so he named his daughter Nellie Sherman. Samuel Jarrett had William Tecumseh (and a George Washington) and Isaac Napp and Elias Miller both had a William Shermans. (No wonder they didn’t move south!). Levi Romig had Siegel McClellan, and Lumbard always did think big he had George Meade. Fred Ulrich had a William Slocum (his great-grandson told me he always wondered where that name came from), and John Riegel didn’t have enough kids to go around so he named one William Abraham Lincoln Riegel (he became a doctor), B.T. Parks had a son named Theodore Byers and one named Sumner (no, I didn’t make a mistake; Parks’s first enlistment was in the 35th PVI and during his time in the Penninsular Campaign his commander was Gen. Sumner). The most prudent one was Michael Schroyer, who named his only son after his future father-in-law who took him in and gave him a job.

Speaking of family, we know that a large number of the Co. G boys were related to each other, but ft started to get more complicated when they began to marry each others’ relatives.

Francis Wallace married Henry Shrawders sister and Harris Bower married Sam Jarrett’s sister.

Fred and James Ulnchs’ younger brother Charles married Capt. Davis’ daughter Laura. Calvin

Parks married Agnes Ryan, daughter of Capt. George Ryan (who died at the Battle of Fredncksburg) and when Parks was killed in a construction accident, she married James Ulnch.

Her sister Annie was already married to James’ brother Fred. Michael Schroyer married his landlord/boss’s daughter, and upon her death, he married her sister. James Smith married Jerry Moyer’s sister, Emma. L wonder how many of them met at the bean soups.

  

For these men who walked (marched?) over 5,000 miles through 8 states, fought a war with muzzle loaders, and read newspapers by lantern light and candle flame, it must have been truly incredible to see life change as they watched it happen. They saw a nation divide, and then reunite (with their help). In their lifetime, three presidents were assassinated, and one spoke to the nation for the first time over radio waves. They witnessed the invention of automobiles, telephones, radios and phonographs, not to mention electric light bulbs. They lived to witness two more wars - ones in which men fought from airplanes and tanks, using machine guns and poison gas. They saw life change so quickly and completely. Yet they lived long enough to know that people wouldn’t forget, as they grew old and passed on, what they had done for them and their country. And we’re not going to let change, are we?

The Schroyer Brothers of Selinsgrove

 
M. S. Shroyer in front of this childhood home on the west side of South High Street, Selinsgrove Pa.

Michael Simon Shroyer was born on March 26 1843, one of 3 sons born to  Christian and Katherine Schroyer.   

Michael served for 3 year in the Civil War, with the 147th Co. G, along with his brothers Lewis and WIlliam.  Michael would be the only one of the three to survive the war.

 Lewis, a private in Co G, died of typhoid fever in a hospital tent at White Run Shoals, near Frederick Md, on January 17th 1863.

 Lieut. William H. Shroyer died May 15 1863, from wounds received in camp at Dumphries.

"Lieutenant William H. Schroyer. of the same company, succumbed May 15, 1863, to a wound received in camp at Dumphries. His leg was Injured there, and compelled the lieutenant to walk on crutches. Nevertheless, he participated In the battle of Chancellorsville the first three days of May. His Injured limb bad pained him so during the engagement that one of th surgeons, realizing his suffering, told Lieutenant Schroyer that as the bat tie was about over he should go to a hospital In the rear and have his injury dressed. While he was going back a stray shell killed a horse. Lieutenant Schroyer was passing, and the dead animal fell on the limping lieutenant and Inflicted injuries from which he died."

In 1912, the Selinsgrove Times Tribune ran a series of articles he wrote about his time in the war. In that account , he wrote of his homecoming:

"The writer gave each member of the company goodby, until at last he stood alone, leaning against a post. Then the sad thought of home and mother came to my mind, and, if I ever missed my two dear brothers, who sacrificed their lives for their country, and mother and home, it was then. I don't think I ever spent a sadder moment In all my life than while standing there. 

"But in the midst of my thoughts a hand beckoned me Into the street. I went out and met James E. Lloyd. He said to me: "Schroyer, where are you going to make your home?'' "I do not know," I replied, "my folks are all gone, and I am left alone." "Come home with me, "and I followed." he said, 1

 "Three years later I became his brother in-law."

In 1881, M.S. Schroyer built this brick home at the corner of High & Chestnut streets, , on the site replacing the home he was taken to after returning from the war.  The former dwelling was owned by Richard Lloyd, who would become Michaels father in law.

The Schroyer Boot & Shoe store is to the left in this photo, which was taken about 1910.

Michael Schroyer married Miss Mary Lloyd in 1867.  Mary died a few years later, and Michael then married his sister in law, Anna Lloyd, in 1873.  The couple had one son, R.L. Shroyer.  

Schroyers Boot And Shoe Store, W. Chestnut St, Selinsgrove Pa

His obituary listed his occupations as "hardware and show merchant"